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teeth, new pain, and check in

Hello mamas,

I'm posting here because my babe is fast approaching 12 months (wow!) and I'll have questions about that...
First, though, is a question about bfing a baby with teeth. HOLY COW. She got teeth early (she had 2 at 4 months), and has kept that early-cutting trend. She's got about 10 now at 11.5 months, including one of the upper molars. She rarely bites, but it's pretty typical - she does it when she's bored, or wanting my attention. The problem is that I'm noticing a new pain in the past week or two when she's nursing - I thought she was tugging too much and I've been trying to get her to snuggle in closer, but after experimenting a bit I don't think that's the cause. I'm thinking now that maybe she's not opening wide enough ... or her teeth are causing friction? Anyone else have experience with this? If it's a latch issue, which has never been a problem, how do I correct it with a nearly 12 month old?

Next, not a problem at all: I can't believe I'll have nursed her for a whole year in just a couple of weeks! WOW! She's never tasted formula!! My son was supplemented from birth and just refused to nurse at about 2 months and I was determined to learn from that experience and now here we are! I'm so happy!

A quick question: is it strange that she never asks me to nurse? She's never tried pulling at my shirt or any other thing kids do to demand bfing. I would absolutely let her if she did, but she seems really content with the routine of nursing before naps and bedtime. I sometimes wonder if it means she may wean early...

Re: teeth, new pain, and check in

Originally Posted by @llli*ohsmomma

A quick question: is it strange that she never asks me to nurse? She's never tried pulling at my shirt or any other thing kids do to demand bfing. I would absolutely let her if she did, but she seems really content with the routine of nursing before naps and bedtime. I sometimes wonder if it means she may wean early...

Hi mama, congrats on a year of breastfeeding! That's wonderful! My baby is now 15 months. She also wasn't very demanding even at the 1 year point, but now she's gotten much more assertive about asking for the breast. She's just more assertive in general, actually, and gets upset when she doesn't get what she wants! (Where did my easy-going baby go??) So I wouldn't take your baby's current lack of demanding as a sign that she may wean early.

In terms of the teeth, I also experienced pain while breastfeeding at around the one-year point. It was mostly on one side. I did feel like I had to adjust LO's positioning - for example I'm no longer nursing her on a particular couch that was a usual nursing spot. Anyway, I don't know if that had anything to do with it, but eventually it went away. It is possible to work on latch in an older baby (I was reading up on all this at the time) - here are some kelly mom links you might want to check out: http://kellymom.com/bf/concerns/moth...nipples-older/ and http://kellymom.com/ages/older-infant/biting/#scraping

Re: teeth, new pain, and check in

Oh, wow, thank you all so much for this info! Nobody had responded so I thought this was just going to slip through the lll cracks...

I think after reading up a bit more about others' experiences (and the timing of the pain coming, and then GOING!) that it was due to ovulation. I would never had thought that particular pain could have been something other than mechanics, it felt like a friction/tugging kind of thing. She also only nurses on one side so I didn't have anything to compare it to... I guess I'll have a more sure answer next month when I ovulate again!

Re: teeth, new pain, and check in

Congrats to making it to a year--we made it to a year last week, also no formula . Like yours, my LO doesn't ask to nurse--only down for AM nap, PM nap, bedtime, then once or twice overnight. He never asked or seemed to cue much. He seems much more interested in engaging with the world around him. Only when tired/sleepy does he nurse good. He eats solids well otherwise, so I'm not concerned.

About the nipple pain--I had this too. I would describe it more as a feeling of the nipple/areola area being bruised. This continued for a few days (5 maybe?), then mysteriously went away. 2 weeks later, I got my first period, so it was ovulation! You might try charting when your pain comes/goes and see if it matches up. Luckily for me it only happened the first time I ovulated. I've had a few periods since them (got it back when DS was 10 months) and it hasn't been a problem.